Beauty Box Purchases!

Hello lovelies!

I think beauty boxes are a great idea. I remember watching American and Canadian Youtubers reviewing their boxes and hated that there was no such service for us in the UK, then along came GlossyBox (YAY!), followed by various others. 

 I still feel the same excitement when I receive my Glossybox every month.  I think its not knowing what goodies will be inside that excites me! That and my general addiction to beauty products and I'm always guaranteed there will be some new ones for me to try inside the box.  I guess brands agree to have their products featured in the boxes because it opens up a whole new market for them, hundreds of people who may never have tried or heard of their products before.

Photo from: Glossybox Blog

But I do wonder how effective it is, in all the time I've been receiving my Glossybox (almost a year!!) I have not gone on to purchase and of the products inside. I should point out that is probably about to change as I've got my eye on the Molton Brown shower gel that was in the Harrods edition box and next time I'm in London I plan to make a visit to a Rituals store to repurchase the shower gel sensation! I know I can get it online but I want to smell the other scents and they seem to have so many luxurious looking goodies!! 

Anyhoo, I've gone off track.... I also love a few of the full sized products which I have received (Hello Stila eyeliner) but I haven't yet finished any to see whether I actually will repurchase or not.

I did sign up to try out a Carmine  box when they first began and some discount codes were floating about.  The box I received had 5 products in it, three full size and two sample sized products and it was brilliant!!

More effective at making me repurchase than all of the Glossyboxes put together.  I'm not dissing Glossybox here, like I said I love receiving it every month.  Maybe this one Carmine box was just really suited to my likes.  I went on to purchase the Caudalie Vinosource Quenching Sorbet Creme and the Balance Me hand cream after using the samples AND the Trind nail Repair and theBalm Frat Boy blusher have become two of my favourite products!  What a successful box! Haha! 

Has anyone found new holy grail products through receiving beautyboxes?! Or new favourite brands?! 

Or is everyone in the same boat as me?! :)

Benefit Ultrashine Lipgloss - Nudie Tude

I love a bright lip but recently I've been so busy that I'm reaching for more easy to wear, little upkeep lip colours and this is one of them....

Benefit Ultrashine lip glosses have (as the name suggests) a lovely shine finish and they're not sticky!! Yay!!
I hate sticky lip glosses, hair gets stuck to them and lord help you if you need to eat something when wearing one, no thank you! The applicator is a mini brush which I don't like as much as traditional lip gloss applicators but can live with as it's quite short.

This particular colour, Nudie-tude, is a golden nude shade with a hint of pink and small glitter particles.  Don't let the glitter put you off as it's not gritty  on the lips and adds to the shiney finish.

Nudie-tude has typical lip gloss wear of a few hours but is easily re-applied, brilliant for a simple colour with no worries of fading unevenly or becoming patchy.

Benefit Nudie-tude £14 from Benefit Cosmetics counters nationwide or online.

NOTD - Nails Inc Notting Hill Gate

Hiya!!

I've had a few days off work this week so I painted my nails (I'm not allowed to wear nail polish to work any more :( ) and I am loving it!! I used to paint my nails so often, I've missed having colourful talons to the max!!

So I went all out and bought a bright neon shade from the new Nails Inc polishes called notting hill gate, it is an amazing neon pink colour!! As soon as I saw it I had to have it and I know its going to be on my toe nails all summer...and spring!!!

I have to say I was a little disappointed when I popped this on my nails as the colour, although still bright wasn't as bright as I had expected and it seriously needed about 3 coats to get a good coverage.  I definitely needed to use a top coat as well because there was little shine to the finish of notting hill gate and I love a glossy nail!!

This being said I still adore this polish as the shade is so lovely, bright and fun!! I've never seen a nail colour so bright!!

Nails Inc notting hill gate is £11 link.